How to start a nail polish biz 1: decisions decisions

The very first thing, I think, before any of the supplies and the formulating, is a bunch of decisions. Believe me: it is a lot easier to run a shop if you know what your ideal parameters are! Take your time figuring this stuff out; you can tweak and switch stuff out later, but it helps a whole lot to have all this written down at the start.

As yourself:

1. How much money will you spend setting the shop up, and how hard is that limit? Where will you get the money, and how long will you let it float until you start making money? Will you spend money on ads, or will you rely on word of mouth and personal networking?
2. What will your theme be? It's not totally necessary to have an overarching theme--you can do individual themes for the individual lines--but it does help to know what your store is about. Are you geeky, like me? Are you chic, like store brands but better? Are you experimental? Are you aimed at girly girls, or dudes, or rockers, or whatever?
3. Will you mix bottle-by-bottle, or will you mix in batches? Going bottle-by-bottle makes it easier to have a lot of colors on offer, but it takes a lot more time to fill orders. Mixing in batches means you can fill orders quickly, but there's a lot more set up up front, and it costs a lot more for that much in supplies--and unless you have a lot of start-up funds, it'll limit how many colors you can offer.

And then:

1. Where will you host your shop? Etsy is a fantastic start, but as you grow, the fees get kind of high. A self-hosted shop is cheaper, but doesn't have the built-in connections and exposure. The other online merchants' pages are smaller and have varying fees that may or may not work for you--do your research and weigh your options!

And it also helps to think about:

1. Where will you ship to? Overseas gets more expensive every year.
2. Will you print shipping at home, or will you need a post office? Going to the PO is harder every year, too, as the requirements get stricter.
3. What will you do if something goes missing or arrives broken?
4. What is your ideal packaging, and how much would that add to your overhead?
5. Will you have business cards and such?
6. Will you sell locally, or only online?
7. Will you sell only nail polish, or also other beauty or home goods?

And, of course:

1. What will your shop's name be?
2. What will your logo be?